It's a shame that Gonzalez never won a genuinely big title during his career. As well as finishing as the runner-up at the 2007 Australian Open and silver medalist at the 2008 olympics, he was a losing finalist at Madrid in 2006 and Rome in 2007. Of course he lost two of those big finals to Federer, and the other two to Nadal.

As well as not winning a slam (his performance against Korda in the 1998 Australian Open final was embarrasingly bad), another major source of frustration for Rios will have been his inability to win his home tournament in Chile. His was a runner-up there 4 times in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2003. He would have been the heavy favourite to win all 4 of those finals as well. I'd imagine most players probably value their home events above any other tournaments bar the slams and YEC.

Maybe since Rios actually had the talent to win slams and he didnt. Gonzalez did well to achieve what he did, he was never some super talent.

It is like Anke Huber is probably more satisfied with her career than Steffi Graf. Yes Graf achieved much more, but her potential was far higher too.

I could never think of a single thing Roger Federer had over Gonzalez.

If anything Gonzalez was even faster, handled the high ball way better (he used to have an extreme eastern backhand before Stefanki ruined it), his serve was just as good, his forehand was just as good, his volleys were just as good. I guess Federer was just a better strategist on the court.

I certainly think Gonzo is one of the most talented players I've ever seen.

I could never think of a single thing Roger Federer had over Gonzalez.

If anything Gonzalez was even faster, handled the high ball way better (he used to have an extreme eastern backhand before Stefanki ruined it), his serve was just as good, his forehand was just as good, his volleys were just as good.

It's a shame that Rios couldn't win that Australian Open final as then he would have been the clear player of the year for 1998.

Unfortunately he didn't and Sampras was able to clinch one of the most unconvincing year end no. 1 rankings in history.

Then again was Korda beating him that much of a surprise. It was well known that he was very talented shotmaker who spectacular to watch when he was in form (he gave Sampras a lot of trouble). He ended 1997 strongly beating a peak Sampras in 5 sets at the US Open (Sampras didn't play badly at all in that match, winning a Super 9 title in Stuttgart and also winning the Doha title at the start of 1998. Plus he had already reached a slam final before, at RG in 1992. He was the 6th seed at that Aussie Open.

I could never think of a single thing Roger Federer had over Gonzalez.

If anything Gonzalez was even faster, handled the high ball way better (he used to have an extreme eastern backhand before Stefanki ruined it), his serve was just as good, his forehand was just as good, his volleys were just as good. I guess Federer was just a better strategist on the court.

I certainly think Gonzo is one of the most talented players I've ever seen.

Rios was the better player and had the better career, even Larry Stefanki would admit it. No knock on Gonzalito though, he was a fantastic gladiator and came so close. His doubles gold medal with Massu was one of the best matches in tennis history, coming from four gold medal MPs down vs. Kiefer and Scheuttler.

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"He looked like he was trying to imitate Sampras when I first played him." Agassi in Facing Federer

Roger Federer also said Rios was one of his favorite players to watch when he was a young player. Rios was one of his inspirations. I don't think Gonzalez will ever be a partial inspiration to such a great future player as Rios was for Federer.

BTW Federer stated this in the Rios book which is titled "Marcelo Rios: The Man We Barely Knew"

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"He looked like he was trying to imitate Sampras when I first played him." Agassi in Facing Federer

It's a shame that Gonzalez never won a genuinely big title during his career. As well as finishing as the runner-up at the 2007 Australian Open and silver medalist at the 2008 olympics, he was a losing finalist at Madrid in 2006 and Rome in 2007. Of course he lost two of those big finals to Federer, and the other two to Nadal.

As well as not winning a slam (his performance against Korda in the 1998 Australian Open final was embarrasingly bad), another major source of frustration for Rios will have been his inability to win his home tournament in Chile. His was a runner-up there 4 times in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2003. He would have been the heavy favourite to win all 4 of those finals as well. I'd imagine most players probably value their home events above any other tournaments bar the slams and YEC.

Oh, I remember that. He choked every time. I remember one of those times he had some huge advantage in the final, and still lost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeri888

Not great, but it's the umpire who needs to apply the rules, not Fernando Gonzalez.

For what is worth, I was watching some interview with him on ESPN a while ago, with him discussing his career, and he mentioned something about feeling the organization was favouring Blake because he was from the US with the scheduling of their match.

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""If doesn't exist in sport. If never comes. You have to do it" Nadal

I sometimes wonder if any of you people actually watch tennis, or if you just regurgitate what you read elsewhere.

Gonzalez hit his forehand 120mph per hour. Just as big if not bigger than Federer.

He served just as big as Federer, hit just as many aces and was more dominant with his serve against Nadal.

He was definitely just as fast and you can see that from his performances in the AO running round his forehand. Ditto with the volleys.

His backhand was just as good before Stefanki got to it and I can post matches proving it.

Everything I said is factually true.

Posting a few shots where Gonzo killed the ball isn't proof of anything. Just as hard doesn't mean just as good. Gonzo's forehand was quite good, but Federer's, shot for shot, point in/point out, is better. Same with the backhand.

If Gonzo only reaching a career high or #5 instead of winning the most Grand Slams of all time was only because of his head, that would make him the biggest mental midget ever. I don't think that's fair to him, just as it isn't fair to say his game was just as good as Federer's. It wasn't.

But here's the real question: did the pun/song reference for your username really go right over your head?